India - Victor Surridge

This book is part of the Romance of Empire series, written at the height of the British empire. It recounts many of the most exciting events in the history of India, from around the time Britain first established a trading post on the continent, in the 1600's, until the decades following the Indian Mutiny, in 1857. The treatment of Britain's involvement is in India is somewhat sympathetic, although many of the greatest blunders and questionable policies of the British Raj are owned up to squarely.

Preface

Romance and India are inseparably associated; but to glean more than a few jewels from the inexhaustible mine at our
disposal is impossible within the limits of a single volume. This is in no sense a history; rather has it been
the endeavour in the following pages to touch lightly upon the more romantic events in our empire story, and
to trace by a series of picturesque incidents the gradual evolution of India, from the warring and troubled
condition in which it was found by the hardy merchant-adventurers of old, to its present proud position as
"the brightest jewel in the Imperial Crown."